Happiness started as an elegant encapsulation of the democratic ideal. But democracy didn’t give us rapid economic growth. Capitalism did. So “happiness” was taken over and redefined by the mercantile class, to sell its goods.

No editor wants to clutter a page with disclaimers and dependent clauses. They can insert “without providing evidence” and “despite the consensus among experts,” but the president’s words must still be presented as he said them.

In our checks-and-balance system, the checks maintain balance. Each branch keeps other branches from grabbing too much power. But this is a different problem. One branch has collapsed, so the other branches lean in and step up to maintain balance.

In the face of tragedy, the Eugene Civic Alliance could have folded their lack of a tent. Instead, they steeled —“timbered” — their resolve and raised a wooden boatload of money to rebuild the site from scratch. If there are two things this community knows well, it’s building and scratch.